Thanks Freebird for your help. When I next started the mower it worked fine so no further changes were required.
For the last few weeks I have been researching rust. So many methods available on the internet but most worked well on unpainted parts. What I wanted was to remove the rust with out damaging the paint and original stickers.
I ended up purchasing a product called Evapo Rust. It's a non acid based product. I tested first on the air filter lid. Here is how it turned out.
![[Linked Image]](https://www.outdoorking-forum.com.au/forum/uploads/usergals/2016/11/full-10705-31332-img_0410.jpg)
Next I removed the cowl and submerged it in the solution. Here are the results.
![[Linked Image]](https://www.outdoorking-forum.com.au/forum/uploads/usergals/2016/11/full-10705-31333-img_0406.jpg)
![[Linked Image]](https://www.outdoorking-forum.com.au/forum/uploads/usergals/2016/11/full-10705-31334-img_0408.jpg)
![[Linked Image]](https://www.outdoorking-forum.com.au/forum/uploads/usergals/2016/11/full-10705-31335-img_0409.jpg)
![[Linked Image]](https://www.outdoorking-forum.com.au/forum/uploads/usergals/2016/11/full-10705-31336-img_0411.jpg)
![[Linked Image]](https://www.outdoorking-forum.com.au/forum/uploads/usergals/2016/11/full-10705-31337-img_0413.jpg)
![[Linked Image]](https://www.outdoorking-forum.com.au/forum/uploads/usergals/2016/11/full-10705-31338-img_0414.jpg)
![[Linked Image]](https://www.outdoorking-forum.com.au/forum/uploads/usergals/2016/11/full-10705-31339-img_0416.jpg)
![[Linked Image]](https://www.outdoorking-forum.com.au/forum/uploads/usergals/2016/11/full-10705-31340-img_0417.jpg)
It's not perfect but it has cleaned up well considered the age.
Please let me know if you notice anything else in the photos.
What should I now do to these surfaces to prevent rusting again.
Also the starter cable is now grabbing a lot and not retracting very well. Is there any good threads on here describing how to diagnose this and get it back to normal.
Appreciate your advice
DonnyW